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FLOOD OF MILLETS
PARIS, May 5.
The art world has been thunder- <*>
struck by the revelation thai Jean
Charles Millet has been respon- <*>
sible for the Millet muds. For some
time a flood of pictures from Bar
bizoners, the French impressionist have
been marketed, and this gave the col
lectors much cause for anxiety Then
a wealthy collector recently paid Millet
£2,000 for a picture painted by his
grandfather, and duly signed, "J.fjm."
It was only when the American buyer
was offered £6.000 that the genuineness
or tne picture was questioned. The
granoson. who lives next door to the
Barbizon Museum, then made a com
plete confession. He said he was ac
customed in his early childhood to imi
tate his grandfather's sketches. He
acquired such skill that finally it was
almost impossible to tell his own pro
ductions from those of his grandfather
He was thus tempted to add the initials
"J.F.M-" and to sell them.
As the business flourished. Mniet
junior employed a professional painter
named Cazot to produce oU paintings
similar to those of his grandfather.
Cazot states that he was not aware that
Jus Pictures were being sold fraudu
lently. He was actually engaged on a
Millet canvas when the police came to
encmuie about the case.
The ease with which the faked Mil
lets were sold suggested the enlarging
of operations to include pictures "by"
Diaz. Oomt Dau v>'-"!v 'Money. Detraz.
and Cezanne. The output of such
"masterpieces" Is estimated at between
3,000 and 4.000 since 1923. The extent
of the frand will be only known when
an the du-ips have come forward, but
probably the majority will refuse to
do so. preferring to hide their error
especially the wealthy Americans.
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